‘McDonald’s theory’ for North Korea can’t work without human rights

A plan to transform North Korea into a modern economy — which one might call the “McDonald’s theory” — has a huge hole in it: It can happen only if Pyongyang improves on human rights, the Washington Post’s Josh Roginwrites:

“Their desire to develop the economy and our thoughts on developing their economy are completely different,” said Jung H. Pak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Trump’s “McDonald’s theory of foreign relations,” she says, is based on false assumptions about how the North Korea regime thinks and operates.

“We need to put the focus on North Korean people and think about how we can support these people and if there is support that comes, how are we going to ensure it goes to the right people and not the government,” North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho told a conference hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy.

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